Just 11 days before Christmas the SA Reserve Bank declared R192 million of “tainted” China-bound money that had been seized from the bank accounts of a Sandton currency-exchange business, forfeited to the state. The money had been deposited there more than five years ago by scores of local Chinese business people, many using false identities and forged bank documents, in anâ€¨attempt to send their undeclared millions back home, under a cloak of anonymity.

They had somehow been led to believe that Ace Currency Exchange (Pty) Ltd – owned by a Zambian with a history of shady dealing on the continent – offered a means of repatriating their funds to China under the radar of exchange control regulations.

Pietermaritzburg advocates to mark the seventh anniversary of a notorious brawl at the Bar with another round in court.

It takes a bunch of drunken senior lawyers to demonstrate beyond doubt that legal action is by far the most costly, time-consuming, inefficient and ultimately ineffective way to settle a dispute or bring an alleged wrongdoer to account.

The case brought by fellow advocates at the Pietermaritzburg Bar against Advocate Penny Hunt to have her struck off the advocate’s roll is expected to resume in April, nearly seven years after colleagues first accused her of habitually using foul language in chambers, of bugging their offices, tracking a colleague’s motor vehicle and, double-booking fee hours.

"We have launched programmes and mechanisms to save the City money. Chief among these are the strategic sourcing of goods, an open tender system, e-procurement systems, which are all, in one way or another, aimed at curbing leakages in the supply chain process and maladministration... Fraud cases have been instituted against corrupt officials. This is to avoid occurrences such as the notorious “shoe polish” debacle which saw millions of rand lost when goods were purchased at hugely inflated prices that otherwise could’ve been procured at wholesale rates."

Solly Msimanga, DA Executive Mayor, City of Tshwane, after 100 days in office on 12/12/2016

Remember the Tshwane Metro’s larger-than-life chief storekeeper Robert Slaughter (nose205)? He with a love of tattoos, exotic cars and luxury holidays? After having been suspended for three months, Slaughter is apparently back on the job, seemingly cleared of all the nasty accusations Noseweek had levelled against him.

EnviroServ, the self-proclaimed “leaderin waste management solutions, delivering environmental peace of mind” is facing criminal charges for contravening the National Air Quality Act, relating to its landfill at Shongweni in KwaZulu-Natal.

It also risks having its licence for the site suspended or revoked by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

In response, the company has accused the DEA of bias in its handling of its investigation into the landfill and of having “leaks” in the department that are feeding information to the media and the Upper Highway Air (UHA), a grassroots non-profit organisation established to demand accountability from the company.

Bizarrely, the local office of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) has also joined the fray, with the branch secretary telling Noseweek the landfill “does not smell at all” and that “those white people” complaining were doing so because of “a hidden agenda”. However at a national level, Satawu confirmed it is pursuing a multi-million-rand civil suit against the company on behalf of 33 of its members from other areas.

Meanwhile, EnviroServ is seeking an urgent interdict to gag an activist.

Previously in Noseweek, Riversdale farm owner Stephen Pain described how he had been vilified by his neighbour, former DA MP Theuns ‘Leuens’ Botha, who for years accused him of a litany of crimes and even had him arrested. Botha also used his position and influence to have a weir and piping installed to deliver water to his property at taxpayers’ expense. Likewise he had an electric fence erected and used his bodyguards to do his bidding in the feud with his neighbour.

Stephen Pain writes:

If only the court had agreed to hear my version of the events that led to the protection order against me. My evidence would have cast a very different light on the events complained of: a light that would have shown up the accusations as utter nonsense. But even without my evidence I’d have thought that the affidavits handed in to court by former DA MEC Theuns “Leuens” Botha and his wife, Sarie Botha, would in themselves have raised serious doubts in the mind of the honourable magistrate. Anyway, you be the judge.

Their application for a “protection” order (to protect them from me) refers to “the serious events of this morning”, by which the ex-MEC meant my (alleged) efforts to murder his wife and two police bodyguards on 12 March 2015.

Serious events indeed. But first let’s go back to just 15 minutes before this dreadful incident.

As one of those seriously unresolved South Africans who longs for “home”, I always promised myself that by the time I’d been in Australia half my life, I would know what I was doing. I’d commit. Having reached that point, I haven’t exactly done so, but a combination of inertia, real estate and an appreciation of the mundane, among others, keeps us here. Mostly, though it’s because my teenage son is an Aussie who deeply loves his school, home, street and suburb and cares about his football club.

Every time I board a minibus taxi I find myself considering what life insurance and funeral plans I have in place, since I might soon die a horrible death. Every few weeks there’s a story in the local newspaper about a fatal accident involving a taxi along the very same route I use to commute to Richards Bay from my home town of eSikhaleni.

As a passenger, I want to be reassured that my “chosen” mode of transport is as safe as we can all help it. As a journalist, I want to know the number of road deaths involving all passengers, whether they travel using private vehicles or public transport like taxis. In a nutshell, I want to find out how many lives South Africa is willing to lose on the roads each year.

We recently heard from a friend about the Pollsmoor Prison restaurant called Idlanathi (We eat together) which is staffed by prisoners. Pollsmoor was even home to Mandela for a while. We had never been to a prison before. We had also heard about Pollsmoor and its overcrowding a few times on the news that week. Everyone in my family was interested.

We had hardly made the decision, when I overheard my son telling his friends that we will be going to Pollsmoor as we have decided to do “Interesting Things” this year. (True. Fig-picking and virtual reality gaming are next on the list.) Such enthusiasm for family outings.

DURBAN - EnviroServ’s toxicology report for its contentious Shongweni landfill – which claims to exonerate the company from reported health impacts associated with the malodour from the site – will be available to whoever wants to see it.

This is according to the Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA) deputy

The social grants crisis is a secret machination to get Nkosazana Zuma elected president.
Everyone in South Africa, from the judges of the Constitutional Court to the poorest of the poor in the rural hills ...

South Africa pockets R190m illegally destined for Beijing.
Just 11 days before Christmas the SA Reserve Bank declared R192 million of “tainted” China-bound money that had been seized from the bank accounts of ...

Pietermaritzburg advocates to mark the seventh anniversary of a notorious brawl at the Bar with another round in court.
It takes a bunch of drunken senior lawyers to demonstrate beyond doubt that legal action ...

TSHWANE AFTER THE DA TAKEOVER
"We have launched programmes and mechanisms to save the City money. Chief among these are the strategic sourcing of goods, an open tender system, e-procurement systems, which are all, ...

Jailbreak. Serving time
We recently heard from a friend about the Pollsmoor Prison restaurant called Idlanathi (We eat together) which is staffed by prisoners. Pollsmoor was even home to Mandela for a while. ...